Called to Stewardship

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If you've got your Bibles with you, please turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew.
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Although it was just a few days ago, it seems longer than that.
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We had a meeting here at the church with the men, and the topic of conversation was stewardship.
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And we just wanted the men of the church to know where we're at and for us to do the things that we need to do, there are resources that we need.
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And we want for each family to begin praying about and discussing, not just financially, but what are the talents that God has given you? What are the abilities that you have? How can you contribute to the work of this church? There's work around here that needs to be done.
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There are trees that need to be pruned, and sometimes you can tell that light bulbs need to be replaced and filters need to be changed.
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Just maintenance has to be done.
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We need people to step up and do those things.
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And yes, someone raised at the meeting, well, it'd be nice if we could advertise.
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We'd love to.
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But it takes resources to do that.
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And so that is the topic of the morning, the fact that we are called stewardship.
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It's not a word that we use much in our day and time anymore, but it is an important word in Scripture.
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Stewardship is nothing more than the wise use of resources.
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One of the greatest challenges of human nature is stewardship.
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Human beings are prone to excess.
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Consider the scriptural warnings against drunkenness, gluttony and idolatry, jealousy, folly, and many other such vices.
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The human heart is prone to sin.
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Consider Jeremiah 17, verses 9 and 10.
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The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked.
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Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.
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We deal with sin.
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It's a tough battle, and it's a battle we will fight every day, this side of glory.
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But just think about in your own life, you see something that you want and how impulsive we are.
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We want to get it now.
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We don't want to wait and save up money and then buy it when the time is right.
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Stewardship is a challenge.
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It really is.
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Human nature leads us to judge ourselves by our possessions and achievements.
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Yet when God saves us, he changes us, and our focus begins to turn from ourselves to others.
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There are three examples here from Scripture that I want us to consider very quickly.
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In the ninth chapter of Acts, in verse 36, we read the following.
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Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which translated in Greek is called Dorcas.
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The woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did.
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So Peter arose and went with them, and when he arrived, they brought him into the upper room, and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas had used to make while she was with him.
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The bottom line is this lady had passed away, but she had done all these deeds of kindness, and she was a beloved member of this congregation.
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She gave of her time and her talents to serve the early church.
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All she did was make clothes, and yet she was truly beloved in that church.
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It's an example of seeing the effect, I think, of the gospel.
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She used her talents to serve God's people.
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In 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul is in prison, and scholars think that Paul is nearing the end of his life when he writes the following.
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It's a very short phrase.
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He says, only Luke is with me.
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You think of all the people that Paul had touched in his life, all the people that he had ministered to, and he finds himself alone in a prison, only with Luke.
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Luke was a Gentile.
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He'd been a Gentile convert.
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Luke had been a physician.
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But here again, we see the effect of the gospel.
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Luke remains with his friend and brother in the Lord in order to minister to him.
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He stayed with Paul.
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Luke wasn't the one in prison.
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He wasn't the one in jail.
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But he gave of himself to minister to Paul.
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In Acts chapter 18, we read the following in verse 24.
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Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus, and he was mighty in the scriptures.
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This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, being fervent in spirit.
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He was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John.
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And he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue.
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But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
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And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.
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And when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace.
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For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
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How many people, when hearing someone speak who needed improvement, would have somehow ridiculed such a person rather than taking them aside to help them? We're really good at finding fault.
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We're really good at picking someone apart and tearing them down.
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Here Priscilla and Aquila heard an individual, and instead of tearing him down, they recognized that he had a gift.
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And they took him into their home and trained him that he might be even more effective.
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And that's what we read in the text.
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It says in verse 28, he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
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In each of these three passages, we see people with different skills, different strengths, and yet they use these strengths in order to serve the body of Christ.
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Notice that in each of these three cases, the assistance being provided is not money.
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This is important because most of the time when we hear the word stewardship, we think of money.
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Yet we need to understand that our stewardship as part of the body of Christ is more, is about more, than just money.
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Our text this morning does deal with money, but we need to understand that the principles taught in this passage apply to just more than money.
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Our stewardship encompasses every ability, skill, and material resource that God has placed at our disposal.
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And so if you would, I would ask that you please stand and take your Bibles and turn with me to the 25th chapter of Matthew.
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And we're going to begin in the 14th verse.
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For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, the it referring to the kingdom of heaven, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.
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To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability, and he went on his journey.
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Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more talents.
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In the same manner, the one who had received the two talents gained two more.
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But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
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Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
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The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, Master, you entrusted five talents to me.
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See, I have gained five more talents.
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His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.
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You were faithful with a few things.
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I will put you in charge of many things.
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Enter into the joy of your master.
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Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, Master, you entrusted two talents to me.
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See, I have gained two more talents.
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His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.
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You were faithful with a few things.
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I will put you in charge of many things.
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Enter into the joy of your master.
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And the one who had received the one talent came and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.
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And I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground.
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See, you have what is yours.
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But his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave.
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You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
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Then you ought to have put my money in the bank.
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And on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
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Therefore take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
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For everyone who has more shall be given, and he will have an abundance.
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But the one who does not have even what he does have shall be taken away.
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Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness.
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In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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Let's pray.
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Father, as we turn to this important subject of using wisely that which you have entrusted to us, may our hearts be opened, may our eyes see, may our ears hear what you would have us to learn, that we would be faithful and fruitful with what you have entrusted to us.
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And I pray, Father, that you would use me to proclaim only truth and that you would keep me from error.
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And I ask that your people this morning would hear only truth and disregard anything which is false.
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For it is in the blessed name of Christ that we pray.
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Amen.
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You may be seated.
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The Lord uses this parable to teach about the principle of stewardship.
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A steward is one who is given charge over something that is not his own.
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In this parable, the master gives his slaves his own money to invest.
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Their responsibility is to use their skills in order to yield the highest return on investment for the master that they can.
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Here are some interesting facts written in different commentaries that I learned while preparing this message.
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A talent, believe it or not, is a measure of weight, not money.
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I didn't know that.
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The weight could be gold, it could be silver, it could be copper.
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The text does not specify which metal was being used here.
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One commentator noted that we do not know what the measure of a talent was in Palestine during New Testament times.
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So we do not know precisely how much money is being referred to in this text.
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However, we do know that it is an important amount of money that this master is giving to his servants to invest during his absence.
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It's not chump change, so to speak.
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It's an important amount, even though we don't know precisely what the value was.
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Notice in the opening verses of this passage, we learn that the master does not have the same expectations of each of his slaves.
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The text tells us that he gave them the money, each according to his own ability.
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The commentators tell us that there is an interesting grammatical note here.
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Because the older manuscripts contained no punctuation.
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I don't know what English teachers would have done back in this time.
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If we had no periods, no commas, no question marks, nothing.
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No punctuation.
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Can you imagine trying to read a newspaper article with no punctuation? Well, because the older manuscripts contain no punctuation, we're not sure whether the word immediately goes with the end of verse 15, referring to the master leaving immediately after entrusting the slaves with the talents, or if the word goes at the beginning of verse 16, referring to the seriousness that the first slave exhibited in carrying out the expectations of his master.
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Well, I was curious.
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I checked nine different Bible translations.
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There are more than that.
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I have nine on my shelf.
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I picked those.
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Seven of them placed the word at the beginning of verse 16, while two of them placed the word at the end of verse 15.
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I thought that was interesting.
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To be honest with you, I'm more comfortable placing the word at the beginning of verse 16, because of the description of the second slave's efforts in verse 17, where the verse begins in the same manner, indicating, I think, that the first two slaves were enthusiastic about carrying out their master's wishes.
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There are similarities and differences regarding these two slaves that we'll address later, but I think the word immediately goes with verse 16.
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It is also important to note that the context in which Jesus tells this parable is in regard to his second coming.
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If you go back to chapter 24 and verse 42, we read, He then goes on to tell multiple parables about this event, specifically addressing the subject of being ready for the Lord's return.
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The parable that precedes this one in chapter 25 and verses 1 through 13 addresses the fact that believers are to be ready at all times for the Lord's return.
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The parable we are examining this morning addresses what believers are supposed to be doing in the meantime, while we're waiting for the Lord's return.
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In verses 14 and 15, we learn some important facts about the master.
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First, we can see that this man is very wealthy.
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The text tells us that he entrusted this money to his own slaves, not someone else's, but his own.
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And he must therefore be a man of means in that society if he has several slaves, along with a significant amount of money, to entrust to them.
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Second, he trusts, yet he has expectations of his slaves.
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He is going away, which means he will not be there to look over their shoulder to see if they are doing what he wants.
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Therefore, we know he trusts these slaves to look out for his interests.
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Third, he does not tell the slaves when he is planning to return, and therefore he trusts and expects them to work until he returns.
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Fourth, we read that he did not haphazardly decide how to distribute his wealth to these slaves.
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Rather, he gave careful consideration of what each slave should receive because the text tells us that he gave the talents to them each according to his own ability.
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Fifth, we learn that he did not have the same expectations of each of them because he did not give them the same amount of money to invest on his behalf.
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And this brings us to verses 16 and 17 where we learn about the first two slaves.
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These two slaves are industrious, and are either confident enough in themselves to invest their master's money, or they trust the master will not punish them if they lose money in their efforts.
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But one of the interesting things about the text is we are not told if there is any kind of penalty for actually losing money.
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In the real world of investments, we know there is a penalty.
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I mean, if you are in the investment business and you lose money, you are going to end up losing your job.
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Just the way it is.
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If you don't have the skills to meet the expectations of your employer, you are not going to stay employed.
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Verse 16 tells us the first slave immediately went and began to work with his master's money to earn more money.
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And verse 17 tells us that in the same manner, the second slave did the same as the first slave.
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He immediately began to work with his master's money to earn more money.
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So we learn that these two slaves are serious about doing what their master expects, using the master's money wisely to grow wealth.
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We do not see anywhere in this text what the two slaves did to earn the additional talents, nor do we know the length of time over which the talents were earned.
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We might be interested in these facts, but God does not consider them important enough for us to know because they are not included in the parable.
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Now we need to note that these two slaves did not have the same level of ability, as indicated by the fact that their master gave them two different amounts.
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But their response to what he gave them was the same.
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They knew what the expectation was and they were obedient to it.
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The third slave, though, is not like the first two.
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Either he does not have enough confidence in his ability to invest wisely, he does not trust his master to not punish him should he lose money, or some other reason that we don't know.
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And so in verse 18 we read that the slave does not invest the money.
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Rather he buries it in the ground in order not to lose it.
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He takes no risks and makes no effort to earn additional talents on behalf of his master.
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We come to verse 19 where it says, Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
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Verse 19 tells us, after a long time.
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We don't know how long, but whatever the length of time was, the master returns home and learns about what his slaves have accomplished for him during his absence.
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So let's consider then the first two slaves again together.
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How did the master interact with them upon his return? Verse 20 says, The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, Master, you entrusted five talents to me.
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See, I have gained five more talents.
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His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.
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You were faithful with a few things.
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I will put you in charge of many things.
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Enter into the joy of your master.
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Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, Master, you entrusted two talents to me.
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See, I have gained two more talents.
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His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave.
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You were faithful with a few things.
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I will put you in charge of many things.
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Enter into the joy of your master.
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Both of these slaves appear proud of their accomplishments.
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They recount the amount of talents they were given, and they state the amount they gained in behalf of their master.
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Note that nothing in this text suggests the additional talents were given to them.
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They earned them.
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Also note that each of these two slaves doubled their master's money.
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They used their own abilities, different as they were, but they still used their own abilities to double their master's money.
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Even though these two slaves bring two different amounts of money, the master responds to each of them in the same way.
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He says, Well done.
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We see that each of these two slaves performed consistent with the master's expectations.
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Therefore, he was pleased with him.
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So pleased, in fact, that his response is twofold.
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First, he says that he will put them in charge of many things.
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Second, he says that they are to enter into the joy of their master.
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See, they have gained his trust.
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With this increase in trust comes an increase in responsibility.
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And this is the usual order of things.
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I mean, when you start with a new employer, you start by learning the basics, and you prove that you're able to do the basic things.
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And as you demonstrate your trustworthiness in the small things, in small decisions and small tasks, you will be trusted with more consequential decisions, more consequential tasks.
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The same thing is true in the home.
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Children, there's a few of you in here.
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It makes really just perfect sense.
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If you do the chores and you do the things, the small things that mom and dad ask you to do, without having to be reminded, and you show yourself able to make good decisions, mom and dad will trust you with more consequential decisions.
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What mom and dad want is very simple.
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When you leave home, and you will leave home, but when you leave home, mom and dad want to know that you can take care of yourself, that you will be a responsible citizen, that you will love God, that you will be a member of a local church, that you will be a good employee, that you'll be a good husband or wife, a good father or mother.
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But we start by demonstrating that we can handle the small things.
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And as we prove ourselves faithful in the small things, we will grow to become trustworthy in the more consequential things.
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Notice the words the Master uses to describe these two slaves.
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They are good and faithful.
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What a joy it must have been for these two slaves to hear those words.
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How encouraging it will be for us to hear those words from God Himself.
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For God to pronounce us good and faithful is really beyond comprehension, for we know the condition of our own hearts.
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A careful self-examination reveals just how sinful we are.
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We know that we're not good, and we know that we're not fully faithful.
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Yet in Jesus Christ, we have been declared righteous through the atoning work that He did on the cross for us.
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In verse 24, we come to the third slave.
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And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.
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And I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground.
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See, you have what is yours.
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Now, look at the third slave's report to his master.
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I'm not convinced that the third slave is saying that his master is an evil man.
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I think the slave is displeased with him.
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Rather, I think the master here has a good business sense.
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The master is not doing the actual work of reaping and harvesting.
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That's true, and that's what the slave is frustrated about.
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The master is not the one really doing the work.
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But the master is a shrewd investor, able to make money in situations where he does not perform the actual work.
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And given that his expectations of his slaves are reasonable, what I mean by that is that he's meaning that his expectations be consistent with the abilities of his slaves.
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I think it's difficult to conclude that this master is an evil individual.
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I just don't see it.
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I do think that this would bother some slaves to watch as the master does none of the work.
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Sometimes, I think just in an employee-employer relationship, we get irritated when we're asked to do things that we know that our supervisor would not be willing to do.
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I think that bothers us.
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And I think that's what this slave was dealing with.
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So I don't think that the master here is an evil individual.
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But it is clear from the master's response that he thinks two things of this individual slave, this third slave in the text.
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Number one, that he's lazy, and number two, that he's wicked.
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Verse 26 says, But his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave! You knew that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I scattered no seed.
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Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
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Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
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Why would the master refer to the slave as wicked and lazy? The slave buried the money, and returned the full amount to his master.
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He didn't hold anything back.
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He didn't steal anything.
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He was honest.
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Gave him the full amount back.
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Look in verse 27 for the answer.
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The slave could have put the money in the bank, and it would have earned interest.
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The slave wasn't even willing to try.
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He wasn't even willing to try to invest the money.
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He wasn't willing to try to do anything with it.
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The slave's actions have robbed the master of the interest at the very least.
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If the money had been in a bank, and as I learned from studying for this, they had a banking system back in that day, not exactly like our own, but similar enough to it that money earned interest.
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And if he took the money and just buried it in the ground, it's not being used in the economy.
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It's not earning any interest.
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And this is what the master is fussing about.
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The slave has in essence stolen that money from him.
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Even though he brought him the one talent back.
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The slave brought the one talent back.
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He has robbed the master of any additional income that that money would have earned while the master was away.
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So even though it appears as if the slave has done nothing wrong, the reality of the situation is that he has done something wrong.
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He has not acted in his master's best interest.
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He was lazy because he would not do the work.
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He was wicked because he denied his master the income to which he was entitled.
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So the master responds by taking this third slave's talent and giving it to the first slave, because the first slave proved he was capable of earning his master a profit.
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Remember the statement, if you are faithful in the small things, you be faithful in the larger things.
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The third slave is cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, which is a picture of judgment.
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And only God has the authority to cast someone where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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The slave is cast there because he is an object of his master's wrath.
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And so because I think the master is a picture of God, I think it would be silly to conclude that this master was evil.
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Because then you would be calling God evil.
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That just doesn't make any sense.
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So how does this text apply to us? We are stewards, as the scriptures affirm.
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In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, we read, Let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
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In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.
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We are stewards of the mysteries of God, according to 1 Corinthians 4.
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In Ephesians chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, For this reason I call the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you.
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Paul was a steward of God's, but was made a steward for the benefit of those who would hear him preach.
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Kind of interesting.
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In the parable, the steward is trying to provide something for the master.
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However, in Ephesians 3, God is giving the stewardship to Paul, but Paul is not given the stewardship to benefit God, he is given the stewardship to benefit those who would hear the gospel.
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The same principle is in Colossians chapter 1, verse 25, Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God, bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God.
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Again, Paul is a steward because God has made him a steward, but the one who is benefiting from the stewardship is not God, but us.
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You might find that strange, but if God is full and whole and complete and infinite, he doesn't need anything from us.
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There is nothing we can give him that will make him better.
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We can't make God better.
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There is nothing we have as humans that God needs to become more God.
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The stewardship given to Paul, and therefore also to the church, is for the benefit of those who would hear the gospel.
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Titus chapter 1, verse 7 says, For the overseer, this is the pastor, these are the elders of the church, must be above reproach as God's steward, just as Paul is.
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So the leaders in the church are supposed to be stewards.
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1 Peter chapter 4, verse 10, As each one has received a special gift, each one is not each pastor, each elder, this is each believer, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
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Each believer is a steward of God.
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As Paul received his stewardship for the benefit of others, so we are stewards for the benefit of others.
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We were made stewards to serve one another.
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We are stewards of the gospel, and we as the church are to be the pillar and support of the truth.
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This is straight out of 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 15.
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Paul says, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
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Since we are stewards of the gospel, how do we maintain our stewardship? God has equipped us to serve him and carry out our calling.
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As we saw with Dorcas and Priscilla and Aquila as well as Luke, they used what they had to serve the body.
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They used their talents and abilities as Dorcas did.
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They used their time as Luke along with Priscilla and Aquila did.
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They used their financial resources.
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I know Keith read this the other day, but it is relevant here.
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Acts chapter 4, verses 32-35, And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.
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And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.
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For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles' feet, and they would be distributed each as any had need.
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Now, Keith was quick to point out, they did not believe in communism.
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Because if you look in the very next chapter, in Acts chapter 5, we read the following, But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge.
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And bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet.
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But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? Pay attention to this.
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While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.
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Note Peter's words.
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While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? The land belonged to the individuals, it did not belong to the church.
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And he continues, After it was sold, was it not under your control? Referring to the money they received for the property.
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Again, the money belonged to the individuals, and not to the group.
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The early church members shared of their wealth with each other, because they wanted to.
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Not because it was forced upon them.
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We should want to serve, we should want to contribute, we should want to help.
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Now, do each of us have abilities, talents, strengths? Yes.
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Yes, we do.
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We do have differing abilities.
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We have differing spiritual gifts.
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Just as the first two slaves did.
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One had five talents, one had two.
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By design.
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By God's design.
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The principle is the same.
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We are given these talents and abilities by God to use for glorifying Him through serving one another.
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Look in the twelfth chapter of Romans.
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In verse six, Paul spells this out pretty plainly.
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He says, Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.
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He says it right off the bat.
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Gifts that differ according to the grace.
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Referring to God bestowing grace on us.
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Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly.
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If prophecy according to the proportion of his faith.
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If service in his serving.
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Or he who teaches in his teaching.
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Or he who exhorts in his exhortation.
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He who gives with liberality.
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He who leads with diligence.
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He who shows mercy with cheerfulness.
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We have different gifts by design.
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They're given to us by God's grace.
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In first Corinthians chapter twelve, We read the following beginning in verse four.
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Now there are varieties of gifts.
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There it is again.
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We see in Romans twelve, we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.
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Here in first Corinthians twelve, now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.
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And there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord.
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There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
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Yes, we have differing gifts.
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We have differing abilities.
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And it's intentional.
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If you want your teeth worked on, you're not going to see your car mechanic.
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I know it seems absurd, but that illustrates the point.
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We need bricklayers.
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We need car mechanics.
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Yes, we even need lawyers.
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It's by God's design.
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We need all of these people.
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Verse seven here in first Corinthians twelve, but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
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We benefit from each other having these gifts.
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For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effects of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
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That's another topic for another day.
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But one and the same Spirit, listen to this, works all these things distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
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Don't get upset if you don't have the same talent as someone else.
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God didn't mean for you to have it.
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He gave you the ones He meant for you to have.
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The Spirit distributes the gifts according to the will of God that the church might be served by the use of these gifts.
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We need all of these people.
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We need all of these gifts.
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Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 11, Paul makes the same point.
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As He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, here's the purpose.
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For the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.
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We are given gifts for the purpose of equipping the saints, the believers.
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We are the saints.
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To do the work of service to God, which is being the pillar in support of the truth that we read out of 1 Timothy.
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And here's the truth, that the Messiah has come in the flesh in the form of Jesus Christ.
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That's the gospel that we're proclaiming.
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As the gospel is proclaimed, God's elect are called out of the world and drawn to Him.
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Believers are to seek to become disciples that more closely follow God's instructions.
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We should strive to develop the skills we have been given in order to bring glory to God.
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That's why we send you to school in the first place.
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To become equipped and trained to do what God has called you to do.
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That's why there are trade schools.
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That's why there are colleges.
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We need to be trained.
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We need to be taught.
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Whatever your vocation is, strive to be the best that you can be.
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Whatever spiritual gifts you have been given, seek to use them for God's glory.
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Use your time to serve the people of God.
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A very simple verse in Galatians chapter 6, verse 2 tells us, Bear one another's burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
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When we share prayer requests, it's not just so that you know things are going on.
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We're to bear one another's burdens.
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We need to be praying for each other.
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A very simple thing to do is to get out that pictorial directory that we had made a couple of years ago and just name the people in the list and pray for them.
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You may not know them.
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You may not know what's going on in your life.
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What's it matter? Pray for them anyway.
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We all need it.
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Use your financial resources to further the work of God and do so with a cheerful heart.
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2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 7 simply says, Each one must do as he has purposed in his heart.
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Not grudgingly or under compulsion.
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That phrase there is very important.
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Not under compulsion.
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For God loves a cheerful giver.
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You should give because you want to.
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You should give because you feel led of the Lord to do so.
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Not because someone's compelling you to.
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We are to use our time, our abilities, and our financial resources to further the spread of the gospel.
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Now, Keith loves alliteration.
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If he were here, he'd say time, talent, and treasure because they all start with T.
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I'm not that fancy.
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Sorry.
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But if we take these three things, your time, your abilities, and your resources, pray for one another.
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Make contacts.
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I know it seems simple.
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And in this day and time of e-mail and text messages, it's not the same thing as a phone call.
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It's not the same thing as a visit.
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Keep up with each other.
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Honestly, the social media is very efficient for moving information from one place to another and informing lots of people about something in a small amount of time.
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But it's not the same as someone actually picking up the phone and talking with you or sitting in your kitchen across from the table having a piece of pie or something.
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For some of you that are good with your hands, our property has things that need done.
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Use your skills.
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Serve others.
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Are there others in the church that have need of something? And you have the ability to help.
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And yes, financial resources.
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We have a missionary we're trying to help support.
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We as a church have taken on the idea of trying to help the Women's Resource Center because they do a very important work in our city trying to provide for low-income mothers and trying to encourage mothers to actually have the baby and not abort him.
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There's a local food bank that we're trying to help out.
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And yes, we want to proclaim the gospel.
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And we want to have opportunities to do that.
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And yes, it requires resources.
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So as Sovereign Grace Family Church prepares for a new year of ministry, can you believe it's the middle of November already? It's hard to fathom.
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I haven't bothered to look at the weather map, but I understand places have already had snow.
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I don't miss the snow.
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I grew up playing in it.
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It was fun when I was a kid.
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I don't miss it now.
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And it didn't take me long to realize that Dad bought the snow blower after the kids left home.
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Please be in prayer about how you should serve in the body.
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Each of us has abilities.
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Each of us has time.
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Each of us has some financial resources that we can contribute to the work of the church.
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Remember the first two slaves in our text.
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They were not rewarded because they earned a lot of money for their master.
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But they were rewarded because they were obedient to the master.
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They did not have equal talents, but they produced equal results.
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You might think, well gee, one brought two talents and one had five.
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How could they be equal results? They met their master's expectations.
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They did nothing more than what the master expected of them to do.
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Pray about how God would have you serve in this body.
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We are here because God has placed us here.
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We all have abilities that this congregation needs, and we should strive to obey and please our Lord with the talents and abilities He's given us.
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We are called to serve one another, and we are called to be the pillar and support of the truth that Jesus Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit.
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He was born of a virgin.
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He lived a sinless life.
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He died upon the cross to give His life a ransom for many, rose again to demonstrate His victory over sin, ascended to the right hand of the Father to demonstrate His authority, and will return again to this earth to take His people home to heaven for all eternity.
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That's the message that we proclaim.
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So the question is, how will you participate in this effort? Let's pray.